News Article
Academic Calendar Change

At the December school board meeting, the school board approved to change the 2020-2021 academic calendar.  District administration and faculty members worked on a proposal to remove three student days from the calendar to give faculty and staff time to research and develop learning loss plans based on what they were seeing in the classroom as the year has progressed.  These days have been called SUCCESS days.  

 SUCCESS is an acronym which means: 

– Student focused 

U- Understanding needs of students, faculty and staff 

C – Collaboration: faculty, staff, parents 

C – Content analysis 

E – Emotional well being 

S – Successful strategies to finish the        

S – School year 

At this time, all after school activities will go on as planned.  Meals will be served similar to how the school provided meals using a survey link to sign up for a meal.  School Age Care will be available on these days. 

Specific plans on how teachers and staff will be available for certain grade level students to come to school for targeted interventions and academic assistance will be worked on at the beginning of January.  (stay tuned- plans will be sent home via E-News)

 

The following dates will now be no student days: 

  • Friday, January 28th 
  • Friday, February 18th 
  • Friday, March 18th 

 

The decision to request taking academic days off the calendar was a collaborative effort between administration and the faculty.  Discussions about having students in the classroom vs. asking for a few days to have targeted time to use the data we have collected about learning loss and students who need accelerated learning options did occur many times.  The concern is that there just is not enough time based on the daily rigor of teaching, planning and correcting students work to create quality, well thought out plans to meet the needs of each student based on what we are seeing students being able to accomplish this year as we progressively work toward a more traditional educational model.   

 

If you have any questions or concerns about the calendar changes, please connect with Superintendent Paul Besel.  507.857.1120 

   
Author: Paul Besel   E-Mail: pbesel@gm.k12.mn.us